AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2006 > July > 30
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Curtain comes down on disappointing Sosa
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The curtain came down today to bring a merciful end to the Jorge Sosa era.
Designated for assignment to clear a spot for new setup man Danys Baez, which came as no surprise to anyone paying attention. It was either Sosa or Jason Shiell who had to go, and the Braves need Shiell to start a game next weekend.
So, Sosa is done as a Brave. We hardly knew you, Jorge.
No, really, we hardly knew him.
Though he spoke English well enough to carry on one-on-one conversations and express himself in interviews, Sosa used the language barrier as an excuse to routinely decline to speak after games.
Sometimes he declined to speak when a translator was available. Of course, this was after games this season.
Sosa had no problem being interviewed after his starts last season, when he went 13-3 with a 2.55 ERA, a fall-from-the-sky success story and a big reason the Braves won their 14th consecutive division title.
This year? He was a $2.2 million disaster. He leaves with a 3-10 record and 5.46 ERA and 3-for-6 saves in 26 games, including 13 starts. He allowed a .298 opponents’ average and .355 OBP, and a whopping 20 homers.
He lost his starting job in June, lost the closer job a few weeks ago, lost his entire job Sunday.
Appropriately enough, Sosa waved off a couple of us writers when we approached him this morning in the clubhouse, after the announcement was made. He didn’t want to talk. He mentioned “later,” which might or might not have meant he’d talk later.
Yeah, whatever.
The Braves will put him on waivers and either trade or release him.
Meanwhile ….
The other new guy, Willy Aybar, is in the lineup hitting leadoff today and playing third base, where he’ll probably be for the next two weeks until Chipper Jones returns from the DL. He’s a smallish guy, looks fast, but you’d never suspect he has the power numbers that he’s had in the minors.
Aybar was hitting .250 with a .356 OBP, 12 doubles, three homers and 22 RBIs in 128 at-bats for the Dodgers, and only .219 with a .328 OBP and five errors in his past 33 games.
The scouting reports on him from Baseball America and other services in recent years had him projected as a future starter for the Dodgers when he was a prospect in their organization before last season, but his defense hasn’t yet lived up to his skill level. He plays third and second, but not shortstop.
Schuerholz told me this morning that Braves scouts gave glowing reports on the kid, so we’ll see. He hit 315 with 10 homers and 41 RBIs at Class AAA Las Vegas to start the season, but hit there almost exclusively during his successful callup last year.
In 83 at-bats as leadoff man in 2005 for L.A., he hit .337 with eight doubles, a homer, 17 walks and a .455 on-base percentage.
I think it’s worth noting, he’s 23. Wilson Betemit is 26.
As good as Betemit has been these past two seasons with the Braves, I’m reminded of what we were saying about him entering spring training 2005.
Remember? He was out of options and the question was whether the Braves could even afford to carry him because he looked like he’d be a wasted roster spot if they did, and no team wanted to trade for him. The Braves tussled with it.
Remember that? Then he had a good spring, earned a spot and hit .305 as a 25-year-old rookie.
When Betemit was 23, he was in the middle of his second of his three seasons at Triple-A Richmond in 2003. He .262 with 13 triples, eight homers, 65 RBIs, 115 strikeouts in 478 at-bats that season. Oh, and he made 28 errors. TWENTY-EIGHT.
He got thicker, stronger, slower, and the next season hit .278 at Richmond with two triples, 13 homers, 59 RBIs and 99 strikeouts in 356 at-bats before his first callup with the Braves. He hit .170 (8-for-47) with no extra-base hits in 22 games for the Braves that season, when he was 24.
I just bring this up to remind folks that Betemit was shaping up to be a bust at 23, having lost his top-prospect status. And in the past two years, he turned into a pretty good player.
OK, that’s it. Time to watch the Braves try to salvage a series that threatens to erase all the momentum they gained during their recent 15-6 surge and seven-game winning streak, if that momentum isn’t already gone.
Later.
Oh, wait, almost forgot to throw in a quick review of the Van Hunt performance at Smith’s Olde Bar last night. Now, I’m gonna assume most of you’ve never heard of this guy (correct me if I’m wrong).
I’m telling you, this guy is the real deal, a fantastic performer who’s like this live-wire hybrid of Prince, Sly Stone and Curtis Mayfield, with healthy doses of little Hendrix, James Brown and Rick James.
He’s the closest thing to early Prince that I’ve heard (I saw the Prince Purple Rain tour in ‘83 or ‘84, and that’s what it reminded me of), but on certain other slower numbers it’s like he’s channeling Mayfield. Then he’ll play straight-forward rock/funk, or punk/funk, as the great Rick James called it.
Anyway, you should’ve been there. Really, really good stuff, and from what I understand he lives in Atlanta. He’s got two major-label CDs and they’re both outstanding, the latest being “On the Jungle Floor.” Get it, and or download it and let me know what you think.
Ryan Adams tonight. Anybody go last night? Am I in for a good show? And does anybody have a Tom Waits ticket they want to sell me? Otherwise, your correspondent is going to be trying to scalp one outside the Tabernacle on Tuesday night.
